Sweet Beginnings
by bushlaboo
Summary: How romance begins between Neville and Ginny post OotP.


**Sweet Beginnings**

Neville sighed as he watched her.  Her long flaming red hair, he finally decided as he held a struggling Trevor.  It was definitely Ginny's hair that had first caught his eye.  It was so vivid and striking.  Then there were her warm, friendly brown eyes.  Still what touched Neville most was her kind nature.  Sure Ginny could be tough and braver then anyone he'd ever met, but at her core, she was a caring person.  The kind of girl who went to a dance with a shy little nobody because he asked, that was Ginny.

Giving up Neville let Trevor slip through his fingers.  He'd get lost again but the frog seemed to like it that way.  He tended to lose everything.  His frog, his memory ball, his nerve, his parents … losing his parents had hurt the most.  Seeing them St. Mungo's broke his heart a little more each time he went to see them, but he kept going.  Not just because his Gran insisted, she was terrifying enough to keep him going even if he hated it.  He didn't though.  His visits to see his parents were precious gifts.  For the short amount of time he was with them he could pretend – pretend that they were a normal family, that his parents knew who he was and loved him.

Neville reached into his robe and rubbed the gum wrapper he kept secretly in his pocket.  His Gran had told him to throw it away.  He couldn't fathom throwing out the only gift his mother seemed capable of offering.  So he kept it close, with him at all times.  Neville was surprised that he hadn't lost it yet, like he did everything else.

Maybe some things were too special to lose, he pondered.  Like his feelings for Ginny.  Since their first meeting Neville had liked Ginny.  His heart fluttered every time she smiled, still it hadn't been until the dance that he realized that he liked Ginny differently then he liked his other friends.  It had been wonderful and horrible all at the same time.

He knew Ginny could never care for him the same way he cared for her.  He wasn't daring like Harry, or smart like Hermione, or brave like Ron, or funny like Fred and George … he wasn't anything really.  He was practically a Squib.   The only thing he truly excelled at was herbology.  On top of it all he was a forgetful bumbling fool who half the school made fun of.

Round faced and slightly over weight he was no Michael, the Ravenclaw who Ginny had been dating and brought into the D.A.  He wasn't Harry either he thought glumly.  Ginny's crush on their mutual friend had been very apparent to everyone save Harry.  While she seemed to have moved beyond it, Neville didn't fit into what Ginny's type seemed to be.

It was hopeless.  Utterly and completely hopeless.

Heart aching, Neville stood up.  He cast a quick glance around the Gryffindor Common Room before heading up to the boy's dorm.  The last thing he saw was Ginny leaning close into Hermione whispering some girl thing no doubt.

~*~

"Neville?" Hermione asked unable to keep the surprise from her voice.  She watched their fellow Gryffindor walked up the steps and out of sight.  "You seriously like him?" she questioned as Crookshanks purred between them on the floor in front of the fireplace.

"Is that so impossible?" Ginny inquired pointedly, annoyed and upset on Neville's behalf.  No one seemed to give him any credit.  Granted, she too had once thought very little of him; however, her opinion of Neville had changed over the years, especially this last year.

"No, of course not," Hermione answered quickly with a shake of her head causing her bushy brown hair to brush along her shoulders.  "Neville is nice person."

"I know," Ginny smiled.  She petted Crookshanks absentmindedly.  "He's never been anything but to me."

Hermione worried her lip and cast a quick glace towards Ron and Harry.  That last thing Ron needed to overhear was that his little sister had a crush.  He'd flipped when he found out she had boyfriend in what could be considered a very overprotective big brother fashion.  "So when did this happen?"

Ginny shrugged, "I'm not really sure.  It's just lately with all that we've learned about his family and all that we've been through … well, I see him differently is all.  He's not that shy boy anymore."

Hermione laughed, "Yes he is."

"Not really.  Around others maybe," she conceded, "but when it comes down to it, we've been able to count on Neville.  He stood up to Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad for me.  You know," Ginny whispered ducking in low again, "I think that's when I realized that I'd never given Neville enough credit."

"He did fight bravely when we …" Hermione broke off.  She didn't even want to whisper it in case Harry could hear.  Losing Sirius hit him hard and he had yet to fully recover.

Ginny nodded, understanding Hermione's meaning and why she didn't continue.  "I don't think he realizes how brave he really is," she informed Hermione.

"None of us did," she agreed.

"So what do you think I should do?  I mean," Ginny, said nervously, "how do I tell him?"

Hermione's brown eyes widened.  Of all the things she knew and of all the things she could learn, romance was not something she'd been able to manage.  Sneaking a quick look at Ron, the silly fool who seemed blind to her, that was clear.  "Well, just tell him," she finally offered.

~*~

The next morning at breakfast Neville received an owl from his Gran.  Her letters were short and unsentimental, though she did think to ask how he was settling in at Hogwarts.  Taking a scone he'd left the Great Hall to go back to the Gryffindor Common Room to write her a return letter.  His Gran liked prompt reply.

Hurrying into the Common Room he tripped.  Neville landed on the floor with a thud.  He lost hold of the parchment and it rolled halfway across the room.  His scone had gone flying.  It landed on the table and splinter in a million crumbs.  Struggling up he heard Trevor ribitted.  "Bloody frog," he complained realizing he'd tripped over him.

Trevor hopped up to him unharmed.  "Suppose it's a good thing that I'm a klutz already," he muttered scooping Trevor up.  He placed him the table and let him go after the crumbs as he went to get a quill and piece of parchment from his room.  When he returned Trevor was still eating way.

Worried about being late to his first class he scribbled his Gran a quick note as Trevor watched him with interest.  "Come on then Trevor," Neville said sticking him into his robe.  He capped his ink and rolled the scroll before heading to the Owlery.

Hogwarts was a large castle with staircases minds of their own.  In mid-staircase he felt the shift.  "No," he lamented as the stairs changed direction, the wrong direction for the Owlery.  Neville closed his eyes in dismay.  He was going to be late.  If it were any other class it wouldn't have mattered.

~*~

"Mr. Longbottom," Snape sneered.  "How kind of you to finally join us.  Five points from Gryffindor for your tardiness.  I must say I think this is a first.  I've never known a House to start off the year with negative points."

The Slytherins in the room laughed gleeful.  Sliding into his set next to Hermione Neville did his best to ignore them.

Ginny turned and gifted him with a sympathetic smile.  Perfect, Neville thought.  It was one thing to be embarrassed, it was another to be embarrassed in front of Ginny.  He felt his face going red and he dropped his eyes to his desk.

~*~

"Hi Neville," Ginny greeted sitting down next to him at lunch.

"Hi," he smiled weakly scooting over to give her more room.  Across the table Ron and Harry sent Ginny questioning looks.  Normally she sat next Hermione or with one of her other friends, when the twins had been there she sat in between them.  She rolled her eyes at them.

"Probably because of what happened in Potions," Ron said lowly to Harry so Neville wouldn't hear.  While he begrudged the boy their lost five points, he also knew that Neville was all right and that Snape took way too much pleasure in embarrassing him.

Harry nodded in agreement.  His attention wasn't on Neville or Ginny though, but a pretty Ravenclaw.

"You ran off so quick at breakfast, is everything all right?" she asked trying to spark a conversation.

"Yeah," Neville nodded.  "I had to write back to my Gran.  The stairs changed on the way to the Owlery," he filled her in.  "That's why I was late."

"Don't worry mate," Seamus Finnigan said patting his back.  "We'll make up those points."

"Plus we won't lose as many now that Fred and George are gone," Angelina Johnson pointed out.

"Sure will miss their stunts though," Dean Thomas remarked.  "Never knew what to expect, them coming up with new stuff all the time."

"Hey how is the joke shop coming?" Seamus asked Ron.

"Yeah," Dean seconded, "when will they open?"

"Soon," Ron answered through a mouth full of food.

Seamus shook his head, "You're no help when there is food about Ron," he complained.

"Ginny?" Dean asked.

Ginny held back a frown.  She had wanted to talk to Neville but he had shrunken from the conversation and as the rest of her House quizzed her and seeing how Ron was no help she spent all of lunch filling the table in on the joke shop.

~*~

Wearing her biggest smile Ginny approached Neville later that night in the Common Room.  "Hey Neville."

Looking up from his books Neville returned her smile.  "Hi Ginny."

"Sorry about lunch today," she said sitting down opposite of him.  "I really wanted to talk to you."

"Really?" he asked his brow furling.

"Yes," she laughed.  It sounded musical to Neville and his smile broadened.

Feeling her nerves growing Ginny clasped her hands together.  "See, the thing is … well I like you Neville.  I like you a lot.  And I was thinking, that if, well if you feel the same perhaps we could go to Hogsmead together."

"You want to go to Hogsmead with me?" he question in disbelief.

"Yes," she nodded.

"But why?" Neville asked clearly bewildered.

Ginny blinked.  Hadn't she made it clear?  "Because I like you."

"As a friend, right?  Of course," Neville said turning red.  For second, well it was impossible, "Of course I'll join you and others …"

"Others?" Ginny cut him off.  "Why would … you don't like me?" she asked crushed.

"I do!" Neville exclaimed drawing odd looks from a few of the other Gryffindors in the Common Room.  "I like you a lot Ginny.  It's just that, err, well …" he faltered at a loss for words.

"You don't want to go on a date with me," she said sadly.

"Date," Neville paled.  "You'd … act-actually go-go on a da-date with me?" he stumbled over the words.

A slight smile touched her lips.  He did like her, she thought relieved.  "I just asked you didn't I?" Ginny asked.

"I don't understand," he gulped.  "I like you Ginny, a lot," he said using her words.  "And well I-I'd love to … I just don't … why me?" he finally managed to asked.

"Because you're sweet, Neville.  And kind.  And brave," Ginny finished off her list though she could have continued on.

"I'm not brave," he protested.

"Yes you are," Ginny said fiercely.  "You go to potions class even though Snape loves to torment you.  You stood up to Ron, Harry, and Hermione.  Not to mention Draco and the Inquisitorial Squad.  And you were bloody brilliant when we faced off against you-know-who."

Her words touched his heart, with each one his spine straightened more and by the end he actually felt brave.  He, Neville Longbottom, was brave in the eyes of Ginny Weasley.  "Wow," he breathed out.

"Is that a yes?" Ginny asked hopefully.

"A thousand times over," Neville declared.  "Ginny you're just amazing," he told her.

She grinned openly.  "It's good to know you think so," she said leaning over the table and placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Sit with me tomorrow at breakfast?" Neville asked his heart beating rapidly.

"I'd love too."


End file.
